“To the edge of the universe and back, endure and survive.”

Where to begin with this one. If you’ve been keeping up with any of my work you would most likely know that on my last post, I introduced my own rating system, The Cent Scale. When making this scale I repeatedly told myself that this isn’t something to be treated lightly. Each piece of media that I analyze with this scale, will be given vigorous thought, and will go through an extreme mental obstacle course within the realm of what it means to be a winner creatively.

Okay… so that last part isn’t true, but it doesn’t mean that anything I review or analyze can just receive the penultimate 5 Cent score. The score that is described as, “A creative triumph that has it all, perfection never looked so good.” However, if something was just so good, so powerful, so hard hitting with the merits needed to deserve this score… Hell, The Last of Us Part I is the first 5 Cent recipient, and here’s why.

First let’s set the stage, in this piece I will be discussing 2022’s remake that was built from the ground up for PS5, not the 2014 remaster for the PS4. I first played TLOU (The Last of Us) on PS3 in 2013, and I remember it leaving quite an impression on me. I was already a fan of developer Naughty Dogs previous work, Uncharted, which is just as critically acclaimed in it’s own right, but there was just something different about TLOU. At this point in time, the show The Walking Dead was already a massive success, pop culture was going crazy for the living dead, so another piece of media with this same creative core didn’t seem to be bound to shake up the industry. That was until people started playing it.

The original 2013 game was an instant classic, and deservedly so, but why was there a need to remake something that was already so perfect? The answer would usually be studios looking to make a quick buck off of fans riding nostalgic highs. However, this game proves that remakes can work, and that it possibly pushes the envelope even further than the original before it.

Lets start with the visuals. Graphically TLOU is genuinely breathtaking. The landscape and setting feel alive, with every explorable building having their own unique design and features. The little dialogue about landmarks between main characters Joel and Ellie, are charming and relatable. For example, Ellie points out a poster of a skinny woman in front of what presumably is a Victoria’s Secret store and wonders aloud how the woman could possibly look like that in a world where food is so scarce. It’s a poignant moment that highlights the stark differences between their post-apocalyptic world and the society that came before. The contrasting personalities and cultural differences of Ellie and Joel are reflected in the locations they visit, showcasing exceptional world-building.

Another visual feature that must be discussed is the remarkable character models within the game. Joel and Ellie look fantastic, but the attention to detail didn’t just stop there. Every clicker, raider, even the runners have enough detail to the point where you almost have to pause occasionally just to admire the work done here. In particular when Joel is sneaking around in stealth sections and puts an enemy in a sleeper hold, the facial expressions and muffled breath being taken away from them, feels hauntingly realistic. It allows simple run of the mill bad guys to have more character than ever before. This grants players a greater sense of connection and potentially causes them to question their actions when confronted with the harsh realities of survival in this game world.

Now lets talk gameplay. With the game being built from the ground up for PS5, the addition of haptic feedback for combat and other in game mechanics is used extremely well. Whether it be the weight on the trigger button when you fire your weapon, or the thud of a melee weapon cracking onto an enemy’s skull. It feels so smooth and brutal in fact, that you can’t help but wince when Joel gets the best of an enemy in combat. This effect also occurs with Joel’s footsteps as well. When you are caught, or combat is your only option, the weight of Joel can be felt in the controller whether he sprints towards or away from the encounter. Again, it’s the little things like these that allow the player to be sucked into the world that the game is illustrating. Without these added implementations, the games age would surely be more visible to the naked eye.

Speaking of brutality, lets talk about the death animations that can occur when Joel meets his untimely demise. I personally don’t like to play games on normal difficulties, I preferably always go with the more challenging route. Which in turn allowed me to see several gruesome death animations that can happen to Joel. The one in particular that you all should see to get the full effect, is Joel’s death scene when being caught by a bloater. For those of you who don’t know, bloaters are a type of infected that have lived so long with the disease that fungi armor plates cover the entirety of their body, making them very hard to take down. Below you’ll see a video from my own playthrough, and just how disturbing this death scene can be.

Lastly, you don’t have a great game, without an excellent story to back it up. Rather than simply be yet another entry in the tired zombie formula, TLOU changes things up. Are there zombies? Yes, but they are some of the most creative and visually striking types that I have ever seen. Do our characters struggle with maintaining their humanity in a broken world, both internally and externally? Yes, while similar to The Walking Dead in this regard, Joel and Ellie being the sole focus allows the audience to connect with these characters more and discover what really makes them tick. It’s no wonder that HBO’s adaptation has been received so well, both critically and commercially.

All in all, the title that was a game changer for the industry a decade ago, is still very much on top of it’s game. This project shows that not all remakes have to be copy and paste HD reworks that do little to improve on the existing formula. By improving on what was established before, Naughty Dog managed to make one of the best video games of all time, just that much more special.

Cent Scale: 5 Cents

A creative triumph that has it all, perfection never looked so good

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